PAM. 

MISC- 


Young  People 

and 

Scriptural  Giving 

By  the  Rev.  CHARLHS  E.  LOCK.E,  D.D. 


t 


The  Open  Door  Emergency  Commission  of 
the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  150  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 


Young  People  and  Scriptural  Giving 


In  the  education  and  training  of  young  people 
in  scriptural  habits  of  giving  it  should  first  of  all 
be  emphasized  that,  as  the  whole  Christian  system 
rests  upon  God  incarnate  in  Christ,  so  is  all  per¬ 
sonal  Christian  character  based  upon  Christ.  Our 
young  people  must  be  led  to  accept  all  heavenly 
gifts;  such  as  “faith,  the  gift  of  God,”  “the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,”  “the  gift  of  God,  which  is  eternal 
life,”  and  “the  gift  of  Jesus  Christ,”  for  “God  so 
loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son.”  “Thanks  be  unto  God  for  his  unspeakable 
gift!”  We  should  follow  the  example  of  our  im¬ 
perial  apostle  who  exhorts  the  young  man  Timothy, 
“Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee.”  With  in¬ 
finite  tenderness  and  justice,  in  writing  to  his  son 
in  the  Gospel,  Paul  says,  “I  call  to  remembrance 
the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee,  which  dwelt 
first  in  thy  grandmother  Lois,  and  thy  mother 
Eunice;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  in  *  thee  also.” 
The  youth  of  this  twentieth  century’s  dawning 
have  the  most  majestic  ancestry  the  world  has 
seen — a  heroism  that  could  found  a  republic  and 
free  the  slave,  and  make  the  nineteenth  century 
the  greatest  period  of  missionary  achievement  since 
the  resurrection  of  Christ.  To  our  youth  have 
been  bequeathed  colossal  tasks,  but  they  have  also 
inherited  extraordinary  gifts;  and  they  must  be 
persistently  “put  in  remembrance  that  they  stir 
up  the  gift  of  God  which  is  in  them.” 

Hence,  if  we  would  instruct  the  youth  in  giving 

2 


John  F",  Gouch^^r- 

they  must  be  persuad.ed^oQleeep.t..the.„G;iyer.  In 
clear,  definite  consecration  they  must  offer  them¬ 
selves  to  his  service,  and  receive  in  their  own 
hearts  the  personal  assurance  that  “the  Spirit  of 
God  witnesseth  with  their  spirits  that  they  are  the 
children  of  God.”  With  hearts  illuminated  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  they  will  be  prepared  to  study  God’s 
word  in  order  to  find  direction  concerning  “scrip¬ 
tural  habits  of  giving.” 

Definite  Instruction 

In  their  education  on  the  subject  of  giving,  the 
young  people  should  receive  definite  instruction. 
They  are  accustomed  to  definite  instruction  in  the 
public  school  and  college.  In  the  Sunday  school 
the  youth  are  taught  definite  knowledge  concern¬ 
ing  Bible  history,  the  doctrines  of  sin  and  salva¬ 
tion,  and  the  divine  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
our  disastrous  blunder  in  the  past  has  been  that 
when  we  reach  the  momentous  question  of  giving 
to  the  Lord  we  have  blunted  the  edge  of  expecta¬ 
tion  of  the  youth  who  has  just  come  from  an  en¬ 
chanting  reading  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  saying, 
“O,  give  according  to  your  ability,” 

Is  there  definite  direction  in  the  Scriptures  con¬ 
cerning  giving?  Unquestionably  there  is,  and  “he 
who  runs  may  read.”  Shall  we  confine  ourselves 
only  to  the  New  Testament  in  pursuing  this  inves¬ 
tigation?  Why  should  we?  We  go  back  to  the  Old 
Testament  for  the  Decalogue,  for  instruction  con¬ 
cerning  the  atonement,  for  the  radiant  eloquence 
of  Isaiah,  for  the  fervent  songs  of  David,  and  for 
incontrovertible  arguments  for  a  personal  God ; 
and,  moreover,  it  was  to  the  Old  Testament  that 
Paul  referred  when  he  urged  Timothy  to  continue 
in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are 

3 


“given  by  the  inspiration  of  God  and  are  profitable 
for  instruction  in  righteousness.” 

The  Tithe  in  the  Old  Testament 

There  are  two  great  principles  for  supporting 
the  cause  of  God  enunciated  in  the  Bible.  The 
first  of  these  is  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  it  is, 
“The  tithe  is  the  Lord’s.”  Five  hundred  years 
after  Abraham  had  presented  tithes  to  Melchizedek, 
the  mysterious  king  of  Salem,  Moses  was  inspired 
to  frame  this  exact  law  for  Israel :  “  All  the  tithe 
of  the  land,  whether  of  the  seed  of  the  land,  or  of 
the  fruit  of  the  tree,  is  the  Lord’s:  it  is  holy  unto 
the  Lord.  .  .  .  And  concerning  the  tithe  of  the 
herd,  or  of  the  flock,  even  of  whatsoever  passeth 
under  the  rod,  the  tenth  shall  be  holy  unto  the 
Lord”  (Lev.  xxvii,  30-32).  The  tenth  thus  re¬ 
ceived  was  in  turn  appropriated  to  the  house  of 
Levi  for  the  support  of  public  worship,  as  the 
children  of  Levi  were  without  an  inheritance  and 
were  assigned  to  the  service  of  the  tabernacle;  and 
the  Levites  were  themselves  required  to  give  a 
tenth  of  the  tithes  which  they  received  from  the 
people.  Later,  when  the  good  King  Hezekiah  came 
to  the  throne  of  his  wicked  father  Ahaz,  he  cleansed 
the  temple,  and  reinstituted  the  religious  rites  and 
ceremonies;  and  it  is  stated,  “The  tithe  of  all 
things  brought  they  in  abundantly”  ( 2  Chron. 
xxxi,  5 ) .  Again,  when  the  gallant  cupbearer, 
Nehemiah,  had  rebuilt  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  and 
restored  the  religious  customs  of  the  people, 
“Then  brought  all  Judah  the  tithe  of  the  corn  and 
the  new  wine  and  the  oil  unto  the  treasuries” 
(Neh.  xiii,  12) .  Among  the  Jews  it  was  recognized 
that  the  tenth  belonged  to  God.  His  giving  could 
not  commence  until  his  tenth  had  been  paid.  In 


4 


addition  to  the  tithe  which  he  paid,  the  faithful 
Jew  also  gave  for  the  support  of  the  annual  feasts 
and  for  the  poor,  and  was  liberal  in  his  free-will 
and  trespass  offerings. 

Finally,  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  close  with 
a  most  startling  presentation  of  this  great  theme. 
With  the  severity  and  directness  of  a  prophet  of 
God,  Malachi  seeks  to  arouse  a  lethargic  people 
from  their  indifference:  “Will  a  man  rob  God? 
Yet  ye  have  robbed  me.  But  ye  say.  Wherein  have 
we  robbed  thee?  In  tithes  and  offerings.  Ye  are 
cursed  with  a  curse:  for  ye  have  robbed  me,  even 
this  whole  nation.  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into 
the  storehouse,  that  there  may  be  meat  in  mine 
house.”  This  closing  utterance  of  the  Old  Tes¬ 
tament  is  like  another  rending  of  Sinai.  The  Fa¬ 
ther  commences  to  inculcate  the  doctrine  and  duty 
of  the  tithe  in  Genesis  through  Melchizedek  and 
Jacob;  it  runs  with  unmistakable  and  unbroken 
continuity  throughout  the  entire  Old  Testament, 
until,  in  the  closing  book,  in  tones  of  thunder  an 
offended  and  forsaken  God  calls  his  wandering 
children  to  a  just  account;  then  his  wrath  passes 
away,  and  with  the  tenderness  of  a  mother’s  voice 
his  promise  of  overwhelming  mercies  falls  in 
sweetest  cadences  upon  our  souls! 

The  Tithe  in  the  New  Testament 

When  we  reach  the  New  Testament  we  find  that 
the  law  of  the  tithe  has  not  been  abrogated,  for  we 
hear  Jesus  saying  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
“Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,  or 
the  prophets :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  ful¬ 
fil.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you.  Till  heaven  and 
earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled”  (Matt,  v, 


5 


17,  18).  It  is  beyond  credence  that  Christ  would 
speak  so  minutely  concerning  the  law  as  that  not 
the  slightest  punctuation  point  shall  be  omitted, 
and  not  include  a  great  law  and  custom  upon  which 
the  maintaining  of  the  worship  of  the  temple  and 
ancient  tabernacle  depended.  But  if  some  are 
seeking  for  explicit  command  concerning  the  Chris¬ 
tian  duty  of  tithing  they  can  find  it  unequivocally 
given  in  the  words  of  our  Lord:  “Woe  unto  you, 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for  ye  pay  tithe 
of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and  have  omitted 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy, 
and  faith:  these  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not 
to  leave  the  other  undone”  (Matt,  xxiii,  23) . 

There  is  a  picturesque  corroborative  argument 
to  these  words  of  Jesus  given  by  the  unknown 
writer  of  the  book  of  Hebrews,  where  in  the  sev¬ 
enth  chapter  he  compares  the  quaint  character  of 
Melchizedek  with  our  Master.  He  recalls  and  em¬ 
phasizes  in  six  different  clauses  the  giving  of 
tithes  by  Abraham  to  the  king  of  Salem,  and  then 
speaks  of  “another  priest”  who  has  arisen,  but 
who  shall  be  a  priest  forever  after  the  order  of 
Melchizedek.  The  logical  conclusion  is  unavoid¬ 
able,  that  if  the  paying  of  tithes  was  approved  in 
Abraham  as  he  offered  his  homage  to  the  first 
Melchizedek,  so  the  giving  of  the  tenth  would  be 
part  of  the  humble  service  to  be  rendered  to  that 
greater  King  of  Peace,  who  shall  be  “a  Priest  for¬ 
ever.” 


As  God  Hath  Prospered  Us 

The  second  of  the  two  great  principles  for  the 
support  of  the  cause  of  God  is  found  in  the  New 
Testament  clause,  “Lay  by  in  store  as  God  hath 
prospered  you.”  This  teaching  manifestly  does 
not  annul  the  doctrine  of  the  tithe.  It  is  our  con- 


6 


tention  that  the  precise  and  emphatic  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  instruction  concerning  the  tenth  was  ac¬ 
cepted  and  practiced  by  the  Christians  of  Paul’s 
time;  and  that  after  paying  their  tithe  unto  the 
Lord,  a  just  obligation  which  each  would  acknowl¬ 
edge,  then  his  giving  would  commence.  It  was  from 
their  free-will  gifts,  after  the  tenth  had  been  paid, 
that  they  supported  the  general  work  which  Paul 
was  now  conducting.  The  money  that  they  were 
to  “lay  by  in  store”  was  for  Paul’s  missionary 
work,  that  “there  be  no  gatherings  when  I  come,” 
and  was  in  addition  to  their  offerings  for  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  church  in  Corinth, 

The  New  Testament  principle  of  giving  stands 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Old  Testament  doctrine 
of  paying,  and  reaches  toward  the  higher  achieve¬ 
ments  of  the  reign  of  Christ  Emmanuel,  The  new 
commandment,  “Love  one  another  as  I  have  loved 
you,”  does  not  controvert  the  Decalogue — it  is  the 
blossom  and  product  of  Sinai’s  great  utterances. 
So  giving  “according  to  our  ability,”  and  “as  God 
has  prospered  us,”  points  out  to  the  Christian  the 
lofty  altitudes  of  generous  giving  to  which  he  may 
come,  after  he  has  discharged  his  honest  debt  as  a 
faithful  steward,  in  paying  to  God  the  tenth.  The 
tenth  is  interest  on  the  capital  which  has  been 
loaned  to  us,  and  must  be  paid  back  before  we  can 
commence  to  give.  We  must  be  just  before  we  are 
generous ! 

Let  us  imagine  a  case.  Suppose  a  faithful  Jew 
had  become  a  convert  to  Christianity.  As  a  Jew 
he  was  accustomed  to  paying  his  tithe.  When  on 
that  first  Sabbath  after  his  conversion  he  assem¬ 
bled  with  the  Christians  and  brought  his  offering 
to  God,  can  any  one  believe  that  this  converted 
Jew  would  attempt  to  justify  himself  in  giving 
less  than  he  had  given  when  he  was  a  Jew?  Would 


7 


not  his  natural  impulse  be  to  add  as  much  more 
to  his  offering  as  he  felt  the  new  religion  to  be 
more  valuable  to  him  than  the  old  ?  Certainly 
he  would  not  give  less  when  his  blessings  were 
more! 

Present  Percentage  of  Gifts 

As  a  lamentable  result  of  a  failure  to  preach  the 
scriptural  doctrine  of  the  tithe,  it  has  been  com¬ 
puted  that,  while  the  Church  owns  one  fifth  of  the 
wealth  of  the  United  States,  only  one  sixteenth 
of  one  per  cent  is  given  for  evangelizing  the 
heathen  world.  Under  a  mistaken  idea  that  “giv¬ 
ing  as  God  hath  prospered”  was  a  loftier  basis  of 
supporting  the  kingdom  than  the  scriptural  doc¬ 
trine  of  the  tenth,  the  Christian  Church  is  giving 
immeasurably  less  than  the  ancient  Jews;  and 
every  interest  of  Christ’s  kingdom  is  embarrassed 
for  want  of  funds.  “By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them”  is  our  invincible  dictum  as  Christians.  In 
the  face  of  failure,  and  depleted  treasuries,  and 
crippled  enterprises,  is  it  not  time  for  us  to  ascend 
from  our  easy,  theoretical,  slothful,  and  sometimes 
vociferous  levels  of  “according  to  your  ability,” 
and  come  up  to  the  definite,  just,  honorable,  and 
practical  purpose  of  paying  our  tithes  unto  the 
Lord? 

Let  us  train  our  young  people  into  exact,  busi¬ 
nesslike  methods  of  caring  for  the  kingdom,  and 
not  withhold  from  them  the  truth  taught  in  the 
Scriptures  concerning  definite  and  systematic  giv¬ 
ing!  Let  us  cease  desecrating  the  courts  of  the 
Lord’s  house,  and  in  some  cases,  I  fear,  even  the 
holy  precincts  of  the  sanctuary,  with  such  ques¬ 
tionable  expedients  as  fairs  and  suppers,  to  make 
up  for  deficiences  which  have  accrued  because 
God’s  people  are  withholding  even  their  tenth. 

8 


Buddhism  and  Mohammedanism  build  their  pa¬ 
godas  of  jasper  and  their  mosques  of  alabaster, 
and  with  increasing  tenacity  possess  the  vast 
oriental  world  by  the  aid  of  the  tithe.  Mormonism 
spreads  its  loathsome  cancer  and  befouls  our  re¬ 
public  with  the  putridity  of  polygamy;  and  so 
rigorous  are  the  leprous  elders  in  the  collection  of 
the  tithe  that  in  the  paying  of  wages  one  tenth 
of  the  coin  is  marked  “tithing  money”  and  may 
be  used  for  nothing  else  than  for  the  support  of 
their  infamous  institution. 

If  these  enemies  of  the  true  faith  thus  promul¬ 
gate  their  false  systems,  surely  the  friends  of 
Christ  should  provide  as  much  for  the  propagation 
of  the  truth  that  ennobles  and  sets  free.  And, 
moreover,  if  the  ancient  Jew  gave  a  tenth  for 
maintaining  the  Hebrew  religion  alone,  recogniz¬ 
ing  as  he  did  no  obligation  to  any  other  peoples, 
under  how  much  greater  responsibility  is  the  Chris¬ 
tian  to  give  much  more  than  the  Hebrew,  because 
the  Christian’s  commission  is  to  “go  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature  ” ! 

If  this  scriptural  method  should  be  adopted, 
then  history  would  repeat  itself :  the  chests  of 
the  Lord  would  be  bursting  with  treasure;  Azariah, 
the  chief  priest,  would  answer  again,  “Since  the 
people  began  to  bring  the  offerings  into  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  we  have  had  enough  to  eat,  and  have 
left  plenty:  the  Lord  hath  blessed  his  people.” 
And  coronated  Malachi  would  lean  over  the  battle¬ 
ments  of  heaven  and  shout  once  more,  “There  shall 
be  meat  in  my  house.  I  will  open  the  windows 
of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  and  there 
shall  not  be  room  to  receive  it.” 


9 


The  Paramount  Work  of  the  Church 

The  paramount  work  of  the  Church  to-day  is 
the  training  of  the  youth  into  scriptural  habits  of 
giving.  Upon  this  education  depends  not  only 
the  character  and  usefulness  of  the  young  people, 
but  the  redemption  of  our  republic  from  the 
thralldom  of  secularism,  vice,  and  avarice ;  and 
the  evangelization  of  the  whole  world.  Is  it  not 
painfully  significant  that  the  so-called  “submerged 
tenth”  of  our  population  bears  the  same  fraction 
as  the  tenth  of  our  incomes  which  many  are  with¬ 
holding?  By  the  aid  of  God’s  tenth  the  submerged 
tenth  will  be  rescued.  In  their  quest  for  the  Holy 
Grail  this  noblest  knighthood  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen  must  be  taught  that  the  heavenly  vision 
is  for  those  who  serve  and  sacrifice: 

“Not  what  we  give  but  what  we  share, 

Bor  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare; 

Who  gives  himself  with  his  alms  feeds  three: 

Himself,  his  hungering  neighbor,  and  me.” 
Christ’s  advice  to  the  young  man  who  came  seek¬ 
ing  counsel  was,  “If  thou  wouldst  be  perfect,  go, 
sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give.”  Ideal  character  is 
possessed  only  by  those  who  most  give.  “Love  and 
venerate  ideals,”  said  Mazzini  to  the  young  men  of 
Italy.  “Ideals  are  the  word  of  God.”  If  our  young 
people  would  become  revelations  of  God  to  their 
age  they  must  obey  the  law  of  service  and  not 
the  law  of  self. 

In  his  human  birth,  Jesus  Christ  attracts  the 
mothers  to  his  cause;  in  his  early  years  in  Naza¬ 
reth,  he  interests  the  children;  in  his  lowly  sur¬ 
roundings,  makes  himself  the  friend  of  the  poor; 
in  his  grief  and  woes,  finds  followers  among  the 
sorrowing  multitudes;  in  his  crucifixion,  he  draws 

10 


all  men  unto  himself;  and  as  the  Young  Man  Re¬ 
deemer,  charms  the  young  people  of  the  world 
with  his  enchanting  personality.  Christianity 
needs  the  youth  with  their  boundless  faith  and 
hope,  and  their  fiery  enthusiasm.  Young  men 
won  the  battle  of  Marathon.  Young  men  saved 
Paris  during  the  French  Revolution.  Young  men 
fought  the  battles  of  the  American  republic,  lib¬ 
erated  the  slave,  and  established  freedom  upon  en¬ 
during  foundations.  Three  fourths  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  civil  war  were  under  thirty  years  of  age, 
and  one  half  under  twenty-four.  In  the  recent  con¬ 
flict,  when  the  suffering  reconcentrados  were  re¬ 
lieved,  and  the  Pearl  of  the  Antilles  slipped  from 
the  palsied  hand  of  Spain,  the  brave  warriors 
who  achieved  the  victories  in  that  war  for  human¬ 
ity  were  mere  boys — from  the  farm  and  factory 
and  schoolroom. 

It  was  a  little  girl  who  inspired  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  British  Bible  Society;  it  was  a  Meth¬ 
odist  young  woman  who  gave  to  Robert  Raikes 
the  idea  of  the  Sunday  school ;  it  was  another 
3"Oung  woman  whose  writings  resulted  in  the  es¬ 
tablishment  of  the  Fresh  Air  Funds  of  all  the 
large  cities;  and  one  of  our  bishops  declines  the 
honor  of  originating  the  call  for  “Twenty  Millions 
Twentieth  Century  Thank  Offering,”  and  says  that 
it  was  the  product  of  the  faith  of  a  devoted 
Methodist  girl. 

Proper  Protection  from  Unwholesome  Influences 

While  the  Church  is  educating  and  training  the 
young  people  into  habits  of  giving  it  should  de¬ 
mand  for  them  proper  protection  from  evil  in¬ 
fluences  and  impending  calamities.  The  youth 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  nation  are  being  destroyed 


II 


by  a  devilish  octupus  of  vice,  which  throws  out 
its  long  tentacles  of  impure  literature,  and  the 
saloon,  with  all  its  alluring  abominations.  Sab¬ 
bath-breaking,  and  blasphemy,  a  corrupting  play¬ 
house,  a  prostituted  printing  press,  and  impurity 
with  its  Satanic  siren  voices.  There  will  be  more 
money  and  fervor  and  holy  lives  for  the  Church 
and  all  its  missionary  enterprises  when  the  Church 
awakens  to  the  power  which  it  possesses  and  ut¬ 
terly  destroys  the  destroyer  of  the  youth,  and 
makes  licensed  and  protected  vice  impossible. 

In  training  the  youth  in  scriptural  habits  of 
giving  we  are  teaching  them  that  they  are  called 
to  the  service  of  a  living  Christ.  Jesus  lives  to-day 
in  the  holy  lives  and  loving  endeavor  of  his  fol¬ 
lowers.  We  shall  urge  the  youth  to  earnest  habits 
of  giving  because  he  who  gives  most  to  Christ  gets 
most  from  Christ  and  becomes  most  like  Christ. 
Not  only  shall  we  behold 

“From  eye  to  eye  through  all  their  order  flash 
A  momentary  likeness  of  the  King,” 
but  our  youth  shall  belong  to  a  knighthood  which 
shall  never  perish,  and  as  incarnations  of  the  King 
shall  press  the  battle  for  righteousness  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  and  hold  the  citadels  for  truth,  “un¬ 
til  He  come.” 


50  cents  per  100  copies 


Series  of  1903 


